s k y
by unversed-unbirth
Summary: The sky is always there.
1. Best Friends

"Gimme a break, Kairi!"

Was taking your heart Fate's way of granting my wish? It was a spur of the moment thing, I wanted to sleep. Now you sleep, for such a long time, and I miss you. I miss everything. How is it that I make sure everyone has a happy ending, but I end up in tears at the sight of you, ghosting your fingers across my tearstained cheeks? You disappear and I cry even harder. 'Man up!' Riku would say. I would ask why you left me here to suffer without my home or my friends, and he would tell me, 'Bros before hoes.' I would scream for him to leave me alone and that it wasn't like that. He would leave. The sky is blue, and there is no sea below, no land below. I am the lonely sky.

"Have you seen my friends D—Riku and Kairi?"

A slip-up, and they'll never forgive me for forgetting who my friends are. I've been pulling my punches with the Heartless just for them, only to be betrayed by Riku and slowly killed by the absence of Kairi. I scream again, not at them, at the people who are trying to help me. I say nothing's wrong. A lie. I say Riku's coming back. Another lie.

"Riku…"

How could he? I choke back a sob, and blink away tears. It hurts so badly, I want to die already. I see Kairi, and it feels like I already have. Riku tried so many times to kill me, yet I am still here shaking her and biting my lip as my eyes glaze over. A dark spot appears on her shirt and I touch it. It's wet. I feel my face, and my lashes have tiny drops clinging to them. I blink them back once again and fight for me and for her once I hear her voice say my name and tell me not to die too.

"Kairi… thank you…"

You brought me to life, though my heart still bleeds as Riku's betrayal goes through me like a knife through flesh—stab, stab, stab, twist. I blur the truth so you don't know what's real and what's not. Go home. It's up to me now. So far, so lonely without you and Riku. But I will keep going because I know that you're alive and you're safe. Are my eyes revealing the pain and hurt as the door closes on him? Is he hurt too? What's going on? The door clicks and I scream again, inside. Time and time again, you two cross my mind.

"I'll come back to you, I promise!" 

With Riku, without the hurt, and everything will go back to normal.

"I want to line the pieces up. Yours… and mine…"

The sky will touch the sea. The sky will watch the shore. We will be together again. It's a promise.

_**Shorter than the others, but a second chapter is planned to start at KH2. REVIEW**_


	2. One Thing Missing, Another Found

"I was looking forward to finding my friend Riku, so we could go back to the islands."

Who knows how far off that is? Riku can be anywhere, and what if…

What if I don't recognize him?

I look different; I'm taller, my hair is lighter, it's in a different style, and I don't have as much baby fat on my face. Riku has to look different too. He might be taller, and his hair might get longer, et cetera. Maybe I'm letting my imagination get the best of me. I always told everyone four words when they were in my position—lost without friends, sad, upset, regretting everything—

"Keep your head up!"

If only I could follow my advice. My head won't be coming up anytime soon. Not until the wounds of the past close up, not until I stop inwardly screaming, not until my urge to curl up and die disappears, not until I am delivered. A smile now would be plastic, bright and wide, but unreal. Reality is a bitch. I like to pretend that I am smiling, and that Riku and Kairi are with me. I mourn our past selves, the old Sora, the old Riku, the teenagers who were untouched by the war, the darkness.

"Have you seen the King or Riku?"

No… well, I believe in Riku. I'll give up anything to find him—it's my obsession. I will find him, even if, it kills me in the end. I lie awake on the Gummi Ship, thinking of Riku and Kairi. It's like my mind is addicted to thinking about them. Them to me is like a cigarette to a narcotic. I need them to live, to breathe if I look deep enough into our friendship. Why is it that my friends take me over, erase my mind and soul until there is nothing but _Riku _and _Kairi _engraved in both?

"Wait! Does that mean you forgot about us!"

I'm tired of being sick. I'm sick of being tired. I'm tired of the Heartless, I'm tired of the Nobodies, and I'm sick of Organization XIII! The worlds share the sky, and the sky does not want to be shared anymore. The sky desires to be with the land and the sea. Take me away from it all, prevent me from being suppressed by such childish fears. Show me courage, make me be brave. Riku left, and part of me is glad that he did. Even though I try to tell myself that he and Kairi are not here, they somehow follow me and torture me when I wake up from blissful dreams and see that they are not by my side.

Forgetting me… what if Kairi doesn't remember me?

_STOP IT. _

Huh?

_I said, 'STOP IT.' _

Who are you?

_That's not important. I've seen this 'old Sora' and that person is still in there somewhere. _

No he's not. He left… a long time ago. A year, betrayed when I thought I had reached the bottom of my very existence.

_Been there, done that. _

No, no you haven't.

_Just stop. _

I can't trust myself to do that. I'm dying inside, and whoever you are, you know that. I won't be broken again, but that doesn't change the fact that I am already broken. These wounds can't be healed by time. I can only watch myself fade into the black, never to be the sunlit sky. The pieces of the sky lie where they fell, here, inside me.

_At least you're real. _

Not for long. It's been so long since I heard my name from Riku or Kairi. Why can't they save me from the nothing I've become?

_Nothing. Don't make me laugh. _

Don't ask me to smile. I will but I won't.

_You _think _you won't. _

I feel my lips curve upward in a poor imitation of my trademark grin.

_See? Smile for her,_

Who?

_And you'll see. _

"Kairi!"

I found her, after so long. My heart wants to burst, and my mask falls from my face. I smile again—for real this time. I put my all into this fight, moving with speed I didn't know I had. Swinging my Keyblade with force I can't possibly exert, destroying Xigbar and the Heartless with newfound strength. I thought I was alone in this castle, but the sky has found the sea.

But my smile fades.

One thing is missing.

_Riku. _


	3. Together

"I'm sorry."

I feel her hugging me, and the contact is too much. She says it's real, as if she took the words straight from my mouth. I return the affectionate gesture, awkwardly, but I'm grateful to have at least one of my friends back.

"It's Riku… Riku's here…"

I tried not to, but the tears fell anyway. I looked for him, everywhere! I found him, we're all together in this world of nothing.

The sky.

The land.

The sea.

Together, at last.

"Why didn't you let me know you were okay?"

Those endless nights and days that I would spend thinking of him, worrying about Kairi. He could have said something, anything, just to let me know he was alright. I wouldn't expect a promise to come home, but that would've been nice too.

_I told you so._

You.

_Yes, me._

Why are you here, in my heart?

_You'll know soon enough. But thank me before you cuss me out._

Thanks, I guess.

"Roxas… I wish I could meet him too."

_You already did. _

Really? When, where, how—

_I'm Roxas, smart one. _

Oh.

Between the sky, the land, and the sea, there's always room for one more.

"I guess I'm okay the way I am."

Broken, but thankful. The sky isn't whole, but it's not broken, not anymore.

Not anymore.

_**I want to thank the reviewers (Pomegranata and Flightfoot) for making the story special. All it takes is one word and you've made my day. Thanks for reading, s k y is at its end. I used their name meanings to express some of Sora's feelings. Example: "The sky. The land. The sea. Together, at last." Means "Sora, Riku, and Kairi, together at last." Roxas was there to help Sora (inspired by his line "Look sharp!" in KH2), and I thought about Namine making an entrance but too many characters. Have to keep it simple but deep. By the way, these oneshots (forever, XIII, fire, sky) were inspired by listening to Evanescence, and also by my past. (hence the one-wing guardian angel thing). Read below if you want to know. **_

_**I was always nice to everybody (like Xion, uber-friendly), but people exploited my niceness (sorta like Sora). I invited this one girl to my house for a sleepover. That was my first time as an accessory to shoplifting, being blackmailed, and constantly tortured and gossiped about. I would always be crying myself to sleep at night, thinking about suicide, too. (take your pick of the super angsty characters Riku or Roxas? Xion? Namine?) Those bitches never got what they deserved, but they did get no love. So it feels really great to vent out my feelings through angst and tragedy. **_


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